Plans Collection

We are striving to bring the highest quality canoe, kayak and small boat designs to serious amateur boat builders. These collections of boat plans are from experienced professional designers who also build and use their boats. These proven designs have stood the test of time being built and used by thousands of builders world wide and many of these designs have been chosen by commercial manufacturers for production.

Learn more about the different plan collections:

Nick Schade started Guillemot Kayaks in 1993 as an outlet for the kayak designs he was creating for his own use. An avid kayaker and lover of all small boats, Nick's designs are for those who care about the performance of their small boat.

Ted Moores and Joan Barrett started building boats in 1972 with the dream of a bucolic life in Canadian cottage country and started Bear Mountain Boats shortly after. Ted went on to pioneer many of the techniques currently used to make epoxy and fiberglass sheathed cedar strip canoes. Over the years he has documented a variety of the traditional canoes used around Canada, designed a few of his own and teamed with Steve Killings to create modern interpretation of traditional designs as well as creating brand new canoes, kayaks and small boats intended for strip built construction.

John Winters got tired of hearing all the mythological explanations for what made a good canoe. As a serious canoe tripper himself he wanted good boats for himself and understood that there were physical reasons for how boats move through the water that are known to science. While large ships and high performance yachts have long been put through rigorous engineering analysis during the design phase, John understood that this was rarely done for small recreational boats such as canoes and kayaks and that the design of these small boats would be improved with objective analysis of their performance. Seeking to improve his paddling experience and those of others, John did just that, creating efficient and beautiful canoe and kayak designs for several commercial boat manufactures as well as himself.

Martin Step, the owner of Green Valley Boat Works is a skilled boat builder and draftsman, looking for quality designs to provide his clients he sought out John Winters and asked if Green Valley could offer John's designs as plans for DIY boat builders. Martin has brought his skills and experience to play in producing high quality plans of John's designs along with sharing his knowledge on how to build them at the highest level of craftsmanship.